Four Cigarettes
by raspberrieschocolate
Summary: Four little chapters that involve Johnny, Ponyboy and a pack of smokes. How was Johnny and Ponyboy's friendship when both had cigarettes in their mouths?. Set Prebook but the end Ten years later.
1. Chapter 1

The streets of this side of Tulsa were empty, it was the middle of the day and the sun was up in the sky, the heat was felt everywhere as it was the middle of summer.

Johnny walked beside him, the little jump he had on his step being his signature mark as he walked. They were both bored out of their minds and nothing seemed to be interesting anymore.

"Wanna go to the lot?" Ponyboy asked as a last resource. Maybe they could smoke until the day passed to do something, anything was better than being bored during summer.

"Sure man." replied Johnny and they both headed towards the lot.

There was nothing to it except dirt and dry plants that seemed dead. You could see some cigarettes butts and maybe some used matches but nothing more than dry dirt and rocks. As they reached, Ponyboy went to the spot they always sat down and waited for his friend.

"Hey Johnny." Johnny nodded his head in response as he took a seat next to his friend. "Bet ya I can smoke ten cigarettes before getting sick."

Johnny just laughed "Ya' done that before Pony."

Ponyboy thought about it and came with a -_for his judgement_- better idea. "Yeah? Well, this time fast, and no stopping between them."

Johnny laughed while shaking his head. "What?" said Ponyboy "No deal?" Johnny continued shaking his head. " 'Kay, three bucks I can smoke fifteen fast and straight, what'ya say?"

"Where you gonn' get the smokes man?" reasoned Johnny with a smile on his face "And the cash, because we know you'll ge sick by the third one."

"When we played poker, I got around two more smokes and I got a pack yesterday."

"Jeez Pony, you're a chimney." Pony slammed his elbow to his friend in a playful matter

"Shut up Johnny, ya got smokes so we can do this deal? I need three bucks."

Johnny smiled smugly "I ain't gonn' giv' you shit." but he still checked his pockets for any left cigarettes.

"C'mon Johnny, ya got a better idea?" Pony said taking out his pack of cigarettes, only four left. But he had six because of the two he had won at poker

Johnny found four and a half and handed them to him.

"What's that? that ain't one." said Ponyboy taking the cigarettes from his friend and eyed the half of one, the bottom half.

"ya don't want it? best fo' me." said Johnny and took the little one out of Pony's hand and back into his pocket, for later probably.

"Only ten so what's the deal?" said Ponyboy, lining the ten cigarettes next to him on the dirt, making them as close to each other as they could.

"Smoke them all, but you can't let out the smoke." said Johnny with a glint of enthusiasm on his voice as he worded his idea to make Pony sick and win the three dollars.

"So I gulp it down? I'll get cancer."

"You scared, Pony?" answered Johnny with the smug smile on his face again.

"I ain't, but I don't wanna get cancer." joked Pony, not scared but excited about the idea of this challenge.

Johnny knew this and started to pick up the smokes, knowing his friend was up for it. He lit up the first one and handed it to him "I'll light them for you okay? that way you'll smoke faster."

"Take time." Ponyboy taking the first one and taking a deep breath before letting out and putting the first one to his mouth, inhaling the smoke in fast and letting out as little as possible.

He was by the fifth one and barely anything had come up from his mouth when he started feeling nauseous.

"You sick?" asked Johnny with the sixth one in his hand, waiting for Pony to be halfway nearing the end of his current one to light up the other.

Pony shook his head and laughed letting out a bit of smoke and soon was handed another, he was halfway through when his head started to ache and had to stop.

"No more Johnny, I gonn' vomit" said Ponyboy and handed him the cigarette, Johnny smiled triumphant not even worried about his friend, they've played the game of smoke-til-you-get-sick plenty of times so no reason to worry about his friend. He took the cigarette and started to smoke it. A rule between friends then was to never let one smoke go to waste.

"Told ya so Pone." said Johnny and took the four cigarettes left into his pocket, leaning back against the wall as his friend stood up and walked to breath some fresh air in his lungs as his nausea grew stronger.

Johnny laughed at that and said loudly, but that only his friend would hear "Told ya Pone, you're sick and owe me three bucks." and continued laughing at his friend that wore a stupid grin across his face.

"Shut up Johnny." said Ponyboy laughing "I don't owe you shit."


	2. Chapter 2

The fifties were soon to be over and both kids walked down the street, both with a cookie in their small hand. They walked side to side to the park with swings, something they both loved.

Ponyboy, aged seven, took a small bite from his cookie, making sure it was small so the cookie would last longer. As he chewed he noticed the big pieces of chocolate him and Johnny put in the cookie mix, not before begging his mother to let them do it.

Johnny, who was nine, didn't pay attention to the cookie in his hand, he was saving it for later. Maybe for dinner, if his mother forgot to cook once again.

"Johnny?" asked Ponyboy with crumbs on the side of his mouth.

" 'eah?" answered Johnny looking at his new friend, they've only been friends from around a week, but ever since the day they met, as soon as the clock marked five, Ponyboy would be waiting outside of Johnny's house for him to go out and play with him. No matter how hard the sun hit against the milky white skin of the little kid

Johnny had met Ponyboy's brothers, Darry and Sodapop, and they were both friendly and even invited him yesterday to come inside and watch TV with them as they ate some chocolate cake their mother only makes on saturday. He remembered that as he walked to the swings with his new younger friend.

When he got inside the house, he asked were Ponyboy was and they -being Sodapop and Darry- answered that he was in his room 'grounded' for drawing on Darry's homework.

Johnny asked if he could see Ponyboy and Sodapop nodded his head, watching the cartoons they only played for an hour on saturday, not even glancing back to him. Or the cake he was eating, letting crumbs fall on the floor.

Johnny walked to Ponyboy's room and opened the door, not used to knocking. He found Ponyboy on his desk drawing on a sheet of white paper with a pencil. Quietly singing to himself as he drew with his pencil lines that made sense only to him.  
When he heard Johnny step in he smiled and jumped over to Johnny.

Johnny, was small for his age, but Ponyboy was even smaller than him at that age. His hair was long and dark red, the roots becoming darker, and his eyes were a blueish green, But would soon change to a greenish grey as the uears passed, he had the whitest skin, as well as his big cheeks that seemed to be always red. No matter how skinny this little boy was, his cheeks would be bigger and a soft pink on them.  
Ponyboy, seeing his new friend went to hug him, something he was used to do with his brothers when he was happy to see them.

And he was happy to see Johnny so he hugged him. Johnny returned the hug awkwardly and walked over to the desk where Ponyboy was once again.

"Wat'ya doin'?" asked Johnny

"I'm drawing tornado!" said Ponyboy excitedly "Sodapop told me there is one when I is little!"

"Really?" Johnny asked him.

" 'eally!" said Ponyboy with a big smile showing all of his tiny teeth "you want draw?" asked Ponyboy, pointing to a few sheets and other pencils he had. Well, they were Darry's but that didn't matter:

Johnny shook his head, he didn't really like drawing and he also felt tired. Really tired. He couldn't sleep last night because his parents were fighting so loudly that he couldn't even close his eyes as he heard the screams and glass chattering, and as he eyes the comfy bed that Ponyboy had he felt even more tired. "Hey Ponyboy?" he asked

Ponyboy had already gone back to sing a tune to himself, but as he heard his new friend ask him something he stopped and answered him "yeh Johnny?"

"Can I have a nap?" asked Johnny and he felt dumb because he was already nine and he was going to third grade already and third graders didn't take naps.

He thought Ponyboy would laugh but the little redheaded boy nodded and smiled. And eve since, whenever Johnny felt tired he knew he could come over and sleep at least for a little bit, bracing himself for the night that awaited him in his house at the end of the street, awaiting for the purple marks to appear on his tanned skin, but skin that still smelled like a little kid, the innocence from his body long gone, but the innocence of his mind and heart, radiated through him everytime he was with the boy he would later call his best friend.

"Johnny?" asked again Ponyboy. Johnny nodded and Ponyboy once he noticed his friend was looking at him again he asked "Is school hard?"

Johnny shook his head.

Him, he hated school, but he had seen how Mrs. Curtis always told Ponyboy how much fun he was going to have in school, that he was starting to doubt himself and think that maybe school was going to be fun this year.

Ponyboy nodded and took another bite from his cookie. "Johnny?" he asked again.

"Yeah?" he answered again.

Sodapop once told Johnny that Ponyboy asked a lot of questions, and that if he didnt want to answer he just needed to ignore him and Ponyboy would understand that he didn't want to answer.

He also said that Ponyboy didn't get mad, but that he'd just stop asking questions. It was like a turn off button for him, but that sadly only lasted for a day. So, the next day he'd be asking question as much as he did the day before.

But Johnny loved it when Ponyboy asked him questions, no one asked him stuff. And if they did, it would be in school, the teacher would send him to the corner if he didn't answer right away and even hit his hands with a ruler if he didn't answer his question at all. So to be asked stuff that he could take time to understand and then answer was something that Johnny enjoyed.

" you ever smoked?" Johnny shook his head and Ponyboy opened his mouth again "me neither." Johnny nodded again in sign that he heard what Ponyboy said.

They almost reached the park but Ponyboy once again opened his mouth "Johnny?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I is there when you smoke first time?" Ponyboy said and Johnny nodded again "Can I smoke too?"

"I don't know Pony." Johnny said thinking of how Ponyboy's house never once smelled like smoke.

"Please?" asked Ponyboy again "We's best friends!"

"Okay Ponyboy, we'll smoke together the first time."

* * *

**Thank you for reading and I would love it if you checked out my other stories!**

**Have a nice day!**

**-RC**


	3. Chapter 3

They were both nervous about this whole thing and decided to keep quiet. Well _quiet_ meant not telling the rest of his friends or people from school.

Sodapop was aside, and both friends knew that. Well, Johnny knew that. He knew that Ponyboy usually told Sodapop everything and he could bet all his -_non existent_- money that Sodapop already knew about this.

This shouldn't be too much of a deal, and both of the friends acted cool about it even though they were excited as they could be at their twelve and fourteen years of age.  
They were old to first start this, some of the kids around here had cigarettes in their mouths before they even went to school. That's the way things were in their neighborhood.

But Ponyboy's mother once caught Sodapop smelling of smoke when he was ten, and the disappointed look on her face was enough for Ponyboy to keep the cigarettes aside for a few years. No matter how many kids from around them already stole packs from the little stores.

Johnny assured Ponyboy this would also be the first time he brought a cigarette to his lips, but the slight smirk on his face made Ponyboy think otherwise.

"I can't believe you lied to me, Johnny." said Ponyboy with a tone or sadness on his voice. He was _mocking_ sadness.

"I tell ya Pone, This the first time!" Assured him Johnny laughing, the smirk growing wider.

"You're full of shit Johnny Cade." laughed Ponyboy.

"Shut up Pony, light them!" said Johnny excited as he saw Ponyboy take out the pack from his back pocket.

Ponyboy took out two of then and closed the lid, taking the pack back into his pocket. He had sneaked out a little box of matches his mother used to light candles if the light went out and lit both cigarettes with one.

Smoke started to come out from the sticks and both teenagers stared at it.

"Wow." said Ponyboy "This stuff causes cancer, like that makes you sick. They're like sticks made of cancer."

Johnny nodded at his friend and continued staring at it, at smoke coming out of the stick "They're like cancer sticks" he muttered.

"Cancer sticks?" said Ponyboy "Well, I don't care I get cancer I wanna look _tuff._" He was lying to himself and he knew it, but the kids just looked so cool with them, and he wanted to look like them, he didn't like being the baby of the group.

Both kids grinned and Johnny took his cigarette from Ponyboy's hand.

As soon as Johnny did that, Ponyboy held the stick to his mouth sucking a breath in and letting out the smoke, after a few seconds deception showed on his face "That's all?"

Johnny shook his head "No Pony, you're doing it wrong." he held the cigarette up to his mouth and closed his lips around it "You do this." he said from almost closed lips "And then." the boy took a deep breath and swallowed, closing his eyes and as he opened tears unshed were seen.

"You sure?"

The dark haired boy nodded "Yah, I saw Dallas doing it, he said you can let of a bit of smoke but you must swallow it."

Ponyboy nodded unsure of it "It hurt?"

Johnnh shook his head "Ain't used to it, tha's all."

The green eyed boy nodded and took the cigarette up to his lips again, sucking in the smoke and trying to swallow it.

He felt the smoke go down his throat, liking how it belt hot against his insides, but then as he tried to breathe again, a coughing fit started and he had to move his cigarette aside before he burned himself from the shaking he had with his coughing.

The dark haired boy laughed at that and took a drag from his cigarette, the smoke coming out as hd laughed at his friend coughing.

"You're so full of shit Johnny Cade."

Johnny shook his head with laughter "What did you say?" he said "Of cake? Yes Ponyboy, your mother's cake was delicious, I'm full of it!"

Both kids laughed at that, their humor still at the point where everything silly was funny. Innocence, some would say.

"Okay, Johnnycake." said Ponyboy and erupted into a fit of giggles, and soon his friend did also. Both forgetting the cigarettes at their hands and laughing from the silly name Ponyboy had called Johnny.

Johnnycake.

* * *

**Regarding one comment I got from a guest:**

**_''stop promoting young kids smoking, of all the things to try to explain the_**  
**_connection between pony and johnny you choose smoking. Trust me had the story_**  
**_actually continued, pony would have died of lung cancer in his early 20's with_**  
**_his chain smoking addiction.''_**

**_First of, I do not encourage smoking at all! I tell you as a personal experience that it isn't as ''cool'' as it looks like, and the health problems that said habit causes are horrible._**

**I'm glad you noticed how young were both Johnny and Ponyboy and the smokes were already in their that you complained, it means you're against young kids smoking, and that my friend, is a good thing But I have a reason why I chose that to write about. And how they in a way, bonded with them.**

**To write these little things, I actually asked my father .If The Outsiders were ''real'', meaning the book happened in 1966, my father and Ponyboy would be the same age (he actually has a lot in common with Ponyboy, he comes from the same background but wanted to get out from there and felt different, just like Ponyboy does, he also loves The Outsiders). So I asked him about his teen years, and along the things he told me was that cigarettes were something big back then.**

**Now, it is true that there are a lot of things I could've written about, but I chose this one because of how I see Johnny and Ponyboy as characters. I see them as the actual outsiders from their gang, they both didnt have most of the qualities that the rest of them did when it came to being a ''greaser''. Sure they both fought, but their ideals and hopes were something different from the rest, atleast I think so And I chose smoking because I felt that by smoking, both boys felt tougher and more like the rest of them did, they tried to fit in. Do I make myself clear?**

**At fourteen apparently Ponyboy already smoked one pack a day, but you just cant start like that, it takes a while to get to a pack. And back then kids started young, it was really common. It was a way to go against what people told you, to be a rebel.**

**The first one, how Ponyboy and Johnny 'play' a game, well my father told me it was a common thing back then to bet on how many cigarettes you could smoke, and I thought Pony and Johnny did that to pass time. I'm sorry if I dont see them reading books or helping poor ladies, but do I need to remind you WHERE they were, and how things were?**

**I'm sorry if by writing about stuff that was common back then I upset people. I truly apologize.**

**I understand if you stop reading, but please keep in mind that these things happened before, and by telling people to keep quiet, you're not gonna make them go away.**

**-RC**


End file.
